Prayer is an uprising of the mind to God or a
petitioning of God for what is fitting. How then did it happen
that our Lord offered up prayer in the case of Lazarus, and at the hour
of His passion? For His holy mind was in no need either of any
uprising towards God, since it had been once and for all united in
subsistence with the God Word, or of any petitioning of God. For
Christ is one. But it was because He appropriated to Himself our
personality and took our impress on Himself, and became an ensample for
us, and taught us to ask of God and strain towards Him, and guided us
through His own holy mind in the way that leads up to God. For
just as He22192219 St. Matt.,
Greg. Naz., Orat. 36. endured the
passion, achieving for our sakes a triumph over it, so also He offered
up prayer, guiding us, as I said, in the way that leads up to God, and
“fulfilling all righteousness22202220 St. Matt. iii. 15.” on
our behalf, as He said to John, and reconciling His Father to us, and
honouring Him as the beginning and cause, and proving that He is no
enemy of God. For when He said in connection with Lazarus,
Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. And I know that
Thou hearest Me always, but because of the people which stand by I said
it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me22212221 St. John xi. 42., is it not most manifest to all that He
said this in honour of His Father as the cause even of Himself, and to
shew that He was no enemy of God22222222Greg. Naz.,
Orat. 42; Chyrs., Hom. 63 in Joan.?

Again, when he said, Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from Me: yet, not as I will71bbut as Thou wilt22232223 St. Matt. xxvi. 39., is it not clear to all22242224Chyrs. in Cat.
in St. Matt. xxvi. that He said this as a lesson to us to
ask help in our trials only from God, and to prefer God’s will to
our own, and as a proof that He did actually appropriate to Himself the
attributes of our nature, and that He did in truth possess two wills,
natural, indeed, and corresponding with His natures but yet in no wise
opposed to one another? “Father” implies that He is
of the same essence, but “if it be possible” does not mean
that He was in ignorance (for what is impossible to God?), but serves
to teach us to prefer God’s will to our own. For that alone
is impossible which is against God’s will and permission22252225Greg.,
Orat. 36.. “But not as I will but as
Thou wilt,” for inasmuch as He is God, He is identical with the
Father, while inasmuch as He is man, He manifests the natural will of
mankind. For it is this that naturally seeks escape from
death.

Further, these words, My God, My God, why hast
Thou forsaken Me22262226 St. Matt. xxvii. 46.? He said as
making our personality His own22272227Greg. Naz.,
Orat. 36; Cyril, De recta fide; Athanas.,
Contr. Arian., bk. iv.. For
neither would God be regarded with us as His Father, unless one were to
discriminate with subtle imaginings of the mind between that which is
seen and that which is thought, nor was He ever forsaken by His
divinity: nay, it was we who were forsaken and disregarded.
So that it was as appropriating our personality that He offered these
prayers22282228Greg. Nyss.,
Orat. 38..